Practice/Labs/Assignments

What's the Difference?

There are 3 types of programming homework that you will do in CS120. All of them require you to write C code and test it. Once you've thoroughly tested it, you will upload it to the submission server.

Practice - These are programming problems that are not graded. They are meant to help you test your programming knowledge so that when you are graded (e.g. labs and assignments) you will be prepared for them. Those of you that may have programmed in C before may feel that these are unnecessary for you. That's fine, but if you struggle with a lab or assignment because you did not do the practices, you won't receive any help.
When you upload your practice code, the server will give you either a PASS or FAIL grade. It's all or nothing. Most practices are pretty easy because they focus on one thing and one thing only. Labs and Assignments will have several aspects that you need to be proficient in.
Practices will compile/link/run/diff your code, as well as performing other checks such as ensuring that you are not using any tabs or long lines (using the tablen program).
Practices will generally require between 10 and 30 minutes to complete, depending on your mastery of the subject material (e.g. iteration, arrays, functions, pointers, etc.) Practices have no deadline, per se, but you should strive to do them as soon as possible as they will help you with the material in class.
Labs - These are programming problems that will be graded. They are meant to test your ability to code using various techniques that were discussed in class. Like the practices, the server will give you a score of PASS or FAIL.
Labs will compile/link/run/diff your code, as well as performing other checks such as ensuring that you are not using any tabs or long lines (using the tablen program).
Labs will generally require between 30 minutes and 3 hours, again, depending on your mastery of the subject matter. You will generally be given a few days to complete the lab.
Assignments - These are programming problems that will be graded. The only thing that the server does is compile your program as a quick sanity check. That's all that it does. IT DOES NOT RUN ANY OTHER TESTS. This means that, just because the server accepted your program, you won't necessarily get a passing grade. It is YOUR responsibility to make sure that you've run your code and that you have diff'd it properly. You also must make sure that you are running the tablen program and are following the Style Guide for CS120.
After the server accepts your code, the TAs will compile/link/run/diff your code to make sure you did it correctly. In addition, they will look over all of your code making sure you are following the style guide and writing legible code.
After your code has been processed (compile/link/run/diff/tablen, etc.), the results will be uploaded to your Returned folders. You will be able to see how well you did on all of the automated testing. These results are generally available within 24 hours of the deadline.
Once the TAs have gone over your code and given you a final grade, that grade will be posted on Moodle, and a copy of your program (with TA comments included) will be returned.